LONDON (AP) — A violence-obsessed teen has been sentenced to decades in prison for stabbing three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed summer dance class.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, faced a sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court in northwest England on Thursday in connection with the July 29 attack that destroyed the seafront The small town of Nangang shocked the country, triggering street violence and reflection.
The crime sparked anti-immigration unrest and led the government to reconsider its definition of terrorism, its approach to online radicalization and how information about suspects is made public.
Rudacubana was charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder, and other charges of possessing a knife, poisonous ricin and an Al Qaeda manual. On Monday, he unexpectedly changed his plea to plead guilty to all charges, sparing the victims' families a lengthy trial but potentially depriving them of answers.
Prosecutors plan to detail the charges against Rudacubana at a hearing on Thursday, with relatives of the victims in court.
The attack occurred on the first day of summer vacation when two little girls were in a class learning yoga and dancing to Taylor Swift songs. What was supposed to be a day of joy turned into horror and heartbreak when Ruda Kubana barged in with a knife and started stabbing the girls and their teacher.
He killed 9-year-old Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and 6-year-old Bay Bebe King. Eight other girls, aged from seven to 13, were injured, as were coach Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who works in a business next door and intervened.
The killings in the northwest England town sparked days of anti-immigration violence across the country after far-right activists seized on false reports that the attackers were asylum seekers who had recently arrived in Britain, which some believed The crime was a jihadist attack and claims were made that police and government were withholding information.
Rudacubana was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Christian parents from Rwanda, and investigators have yet to determine his motive. Police found documents on his device on topics including Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and car bombs.
In the years before the attack, he had been reported to multiple authorities for his violent interests and behavior. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told lawmakers on Tuesday that Rudakubana "had a conviction for violently assaulting another child at school" and had numerous contacts with children's social care, mental health services and the police, who were charged with reckless conduct. Dacubana was called to the home five times because of his behavior. 2019 and 2022. He was recommended three times for Prevent, the government's counter-extremism programme, when he was 13 and 14 years old.
All agencies failed to detect the danger he posed.
The government has announced the case as a wake-up call. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this must lead to "fundamental changes" in the way the country protects its citizens and announced a public inquiry into the mistakes that led to Ruda Kubana carrying out a rampage using a knife ordered from Amazon.
He said the law may need to be updated to deal with "new threats" from violent individuals whose combination of motivations tests traditional definitions of terrorism as "loners, misfits, young people committing extreme violence in their bedrooms" Behavior".
The Crown Prosecution Service defended Rudacubana's decision not to reveal the details before he appeared in court, saying "releasing this information early would put the trial at risk." UK contempt of court laws limit what can be reported before a trial to prevent jurors bias.